Weather conditions and events can have a significant impact upon the generation and distribution of electric power and, consequently, in the number and type of service outages that may result and affect the customers of a particular electrical power utility company. Typically, the generation/transmission/distribution grid of an electrical power utility company will experience periodic service outages due to weather conditions that effect power distribution and availability to specific customers and/or specific areas. Consequently, it would certainly be useful for a utility to know or at least to be able to more accurately predict the types and likely occurrence of operational parameters/events and power outages that are directly caused by local or regional weather events. However, not all service outages and operational events are a result of the weather, even if occurring during a prevailing weather condition/event. Moreover, those operational parameter/events that are not caused by weather events may require a different approach to serving and repair. In this regard, power generation demand forecasting can be an important tool for power generation/transmission/distribution utilities in assessing and developing a cost effective and efficient mix of power generation, transmission/distribution and repair needed to meet electrical power load demands during potential outage causing events. Unfortunately, accurate weather-related power demand forecasting requires an ability to monitor and analyze existing power generation facilities and transmission/distribution grid operational events in light of constantly evolving weather patterns from days or even weeks past up to the present and including forecasts of several hours to weeks out. In this regard, utility companies need to be able to accurately identify where and what weather events are likely to disrupt electric service to customers so as to be able to proactively address power outage events or at least respond quickly with appropriate remedial measures. For example, if utility companies had access to effective methods and tools for studying, reviewing and correlating the evolution of various weather phenomenon/events to distribution grid operational events, information developed from such correlations could be used not only to address power outages as they occur but also to anticipate and prevent future equipment failures and power outages. Moreover, the access and use of such information would undoubtedly increase overall operating efficiency, reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction.
Consequently, there is presently a need and a desire in the electrical power generation, transmission and distribution industry for some effective means that would enable a power utility company to better anticipate and prepare for weather related operational events so as to reduce the number of power outages and improve customer satisfaction. In addition, it would be useful and beneficial to a power utility company to have some practical means to identify and visually display the time and locations of power outage events and/or other significant operational parameters/events that occur throughout the utility's electrical distribution infrastructure. It would also be useful to be able to readily distinguish and identify those operational parameters/events caused by weather events/phenomenon from those that are not and to be able to view a time-lapse evolution of weather and events. Accordingly, a computer-implemented tool/system is disclosed herein which, among other things, acquires information concerning operational parameters/events occurring in an electrical power transmission/distribution grid, determines a degree of correlation of each event to relevant weather phenomenon, and displays the acquired information in a user-controllable manner as an animated video-graphic time-lapse evolution.